Abstract: In the translation history of the Bible into Chinese in the 19^th century, the Delegates' Version has an epoch-making significance:the "elegant and standard classical Chinese" used by W. H. Medhurst and WANG Tao brought a high reputation to the version; on the other hand, the unfathomable classical Chinese employed also made it impossible for the Delegates' Version to be effectively spread among the masses, and it was even called "a sealed book" by many missionaries. Based on the archives of the British Bible Society, this paper focuses on controversies about the Delegates' Version from the 1860s to the 1880s, analyzes historical facts and explores the influence of the "standard classical Chinese" applied by the Delegates' Version on its spread and reading in the mid-to-late 19^th Century. This paper also examines how the above concerns changed the translating strategies of the Bible into Chinese, and explores the use of written languages and the concern about multiple languages in early modern China.

Key words: translation of the Bible into Chinese, the Delegates' Version, Late Qing Dynasty, classical Chinese